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| Mireille Guiliano: The Art of Savoir-Faire |
I was brooding on this very point as a matter of fact on 22nd December. (I don't know about you but I am given to brooding on dark mornings over my porridge and am often still brooding when I arrive at my desk and open up my trusty laptop: my own personal alchemical window on the world through which I scry the comings and goings of my friends. Not only friends either, for the butcher, baker and candlestick maker all clamour for my attention).
My friend Amazon is particularly efficient in this regard. She writes first thing every morning with an amazing offer. (I call her 'she' because, first, she is big and mighty and, second, because I am not sure that any Amazons were men, which raises the interesting question of how the race was perpetuated; Reader if you happen to know perhaps you could leave a comment.)
So Amazon wrote on 22nd December beseeching me that 2012 would be a very different sort of a year, and boundlessly more prosperous, if only I clicked on the right hand side of the page and they deducted £9 and some pennies from my account. In return (though not before Christmas if I was so parsimonious as to insist on the free 'super-saver' delivery) they would send me a new book, just out, by Mireille Guiliano - the renowned author of 'French Women Don't Get Fat.'
Those that know me know that I have been a fan of this tome ever since it appeared a few years back and have indeed personally accomplished the 'magical leek diet,' surviving a whole forty eight hours on leek broth. Ever since reading it I have been leaving half bananas about the kitchen and watching (but sometimes only watching) my portion sizes.
Now retired from her position as CEO of the American end of the Champagne House Veuve Cliquot Mireille calls her new book 'Women, Work and the Art of Savoir-Faire,' and she describes it as...
"........the sort of book I wish I had been given when starting out in the working world and had at hand along the way.......you'll find advice on getting ahead and getting promoted....but more than that, you'll find advice on being happy and living a good life, even while you are making the biggest contribution you can in the workplace. That's why I dare to talk about style and clothes and food and wine and entertaining and life in a business book."
How could I resist? I clicked on Super-Saver Delivery and my friend Amazon must have taken pity for the book slid through my letterbox on Christmas Eve. I read it almost at once.
There is a mountain of sensible information here: set yourself achievable objectives; spend less time on trivia and more on planning and preparation; work out what is making you stressed, identify the elements and then attack each one in turn; invest in a good haircut. The lifestyle and coping strategies are exciting, the pages on entertaining and preparing for business dinner parties at home could become a bible. My only gripe is that she seems to overdo the chocolate - her first business menu, for instance, comprises Soup with Chocolate, Duck with Chocolate and then, as if that weren't enough, comes this glorious confection: Mousse Au Chocolat with Ginger with the following ingredients (for 4 people).
12 ounces dark chocolate
8.5 ounces of heavy cream
2 ounces butter
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons sugar
2 ounces ginger confit, thinly minced.
(I worry that it might be a tad fattening, especially with chocolate in the two courses before. I am trying to calculate how long one would need to live on leek broth to compensate).
Still - a remarkable book and illustrated by a personal anecdote. As a young woman, just about to embark on a career, Mireille took a travelling holiday before commencing a dream job at the Council for Europe. In Greece she met an American and fell in love with him (it helped they spoke each others languages). After a very short time he returned to America while she was due to start at the Council of Europe. He asked her to join him in New York. Classic dilemma - job or man? How many of us would have refused to be diverted, chosen the job, not believed that a holiday romance would work? What would our friends have advised? But she chose the man and is still married to him, while starting a new career, from scratch in a new City and language, and on a new Continent.
If she had been following the advice in her book she might have asked herself 'what's the downside?' She could have always come home. But you have to hand it to her, choices like that are what constitute style and 'savoir-faire.' I believe Amazon will happily supply you, too, with a copy of her book. Meanwhile my resolution is to re-read it and to celebrate losing a stone by making Mousse Au Chocolat with Ginger.
12 comments:
Hi Fennie, as tempting as this book seems, I know reading it will just make me even more stroppy and jealous of a woman who seems to have everything in spades, plus an enviable waistline.
Having spent years of my life advising others, (even if they didn't ask for it as often as not)I fear I am hopeless at taking any advice myself. I am intrigued by thoughts of leek broth though. I've got a whole allottment of the things at the moment and am running out of recipe ideas.
Can you overdo chocolate? I'm having a slightly Eeyore-ish sort of start to the New Year so probably not quite ready yet for the art of savoir faire. Maybe some more hula-hopping is the answer?
Ah yes Amazon, I have such a close personal relationship with them I feel like they should be declared as a dependent on our income tax.
Mmmm. I have a copy of the book "French Women don't get Fat' kindly given to me by Fennie, I think as a sort of encouragement to eat more sensibly. It is depressing reading and somewhat untruthful because French women do get fat, and are getting fatter. Perhaps they are not yet in our league but they are getting there and I am not surprised. On a diet of French bread, cheese and wine topped of with Belgian chocolate and the sort of pud given by Fennie, who would not get fat.
So I will not be reading her latest book, firstly because I am too old to start any new regime and secondly because I suspect it needs more money than I have available.
As to the half bananas - Fennie knows my opinion on those!
I, too, spent 48 hours on the Leek Soup diet and remember that first book. I won't be buying this one - it would just put me into a very bad mood. I know that someone had to be the CEO of a Champagne company, but why couldn't it have been me???
Lampie, - the leek broth is very simple. Come Friday evening you take a kilo of leeks and boil them. Save both leeks and liquid. Eat and drink both over the next 48 hours (but nothing else). You are allowed a little seasoning and olive oil.
Chris - I cannot imagine a better book to banish Eeyore or any of his cousins, especially if you indulge with a glass of champagne. I can't help feeling that hula hopping or even hooping can't be very good for the digestion.
Mac n' Janet - Now wouldn't that be wonderful! Amazon purchases tax deductible. You could run for President with a program like that!
Rosie - no-one is ever too old. And this book is not about dieting, but savoir-faire - style, elegance, doing things more easily. We can always learn. Besides there are some cracking recipes here.
Pondside - I bet Veuve Cliquot don't have a representative on the Island. Why don't you apply? You would do the job with verve and skill and I am sure - having seen pictures of your very elegant entertaining and with your facility with languages, that you would be a shoes in. In fact you might soon get to cover the whole North West. Plenty of advice in the book on brushing up your CV.
Note to self; read before pressing button!
I don't know ... I rather like the idea of Hula-Hopping, it sounds very exotic.
Hula-hopping has got to be more effective and enjoyable than the leek soup diet.
Fennie, I was all set to write my own comment, and then just started laughing as I read all about hula hopping!
I did read Ms Guiliano's book about French women not getting fat, and figured out that as usual, I would love to live a while in France. Meanwhile, I live in a fantastic city whose pace keeps my metabolism charged up enough to keep me from getting fat, as long as I stick to three meals a day, nothing more.
Amazon has also delivered a book or more to me, and every time I remember some years back when Mr Bezos's brother and I used to do our laundry on the same mornings in my apartment building's basement laundry room. At that time, I'd never considered ordering anything on line. So long ago.
Now...where is that chocolate?
I read the earlier one and might even read this one. There was so much I liked about it but I can't say it helped me lose any weight!
I know many French women and quite a few of them are not thin, me included. I am French (have a French passport) but I am not thin unfortunately. I like dark chocolate a lot as well as goat cheese and crusty baguettes! Add some good paté to that too… I read Mireille’s first book but somehow forgot the leek diet – I guess I should take another look and try it. My days in corporate America are over now so I think I’ll wait until this latest book is at the Library. I enjoyed your post and your sense of humour.
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